Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 1:21 AM ET

NICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$111
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$125+12.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.8±23.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.64707 puts / 431 calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3057.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$44Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$110-0.9%1d
Fri, Nov 20$90-18.9%36d
Fri, Jan 15$140+26.1%92d
Fri, Feb 19$125+12.6%127d
Fri, May 21$95-14.4%218d
Fri, Jan 21$110-0.9%463d
Fri, Dec 15$100-9.9%792d
Fri, Jan 19$85-23.4%827d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1256587109131153175$4M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1256585105125145165191191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NICE open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1256585105125145165245245
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot658710913115317568%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot6585105125145165+$13K−$13K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01750.00400.10-0.02-0.08
0.90-0.02800.00520.12-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02850.00650.15-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.03900.00780.17-0.03-0.18
0.77-0.03950.00920.20-0.04-0.23
0.72-0.041000.01040.22-0.04-0.29
0.66-0.041050.01140.24-0.05-0.35
0.60-0.041100.01200.26-0.05-0.41
0.54-0.051150.01240.26-0.05-0.47
0.48-0.051200.01250.26-0.05-0.54
0.42-0.051250.01230.26-0.05-0.59
0.37-0.051300.01180.25-0.04-0.65
0.33-0.041350.01120.24-0.04-0.70
0.28-0.041400.01050.22-0.04-0.75
0.24-0.041450.00970.21-0.04-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot458011515018524010K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot458011515018524010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K call contracts, 15K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: NICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk